Wayne Thiebaud Inspired Lollipops

Wayne Thiebaud's art is really fun to introduce to kindergartners. Who doesn't get excited when they see sweets? You know cakes, pies, donuts! But for this lesson the kids got to take a look at his lollipop paintings for inspiration. Then... when they found out we were going to use clay. Oh boy! Talk about excitement!

I started out demonstrating how to make clay coils. (FYI- we used Crayola Air Dry clay) Or if you want to be really descriptive with your words, we were making a snake-like shape with the clay. One little tip- Just make sure to keep repeating that when you roll the clay into the snake-like coils to use the palm of your hand, not the fingers. That way, the coils come out rounder.

After the kids roll out the coils they then have to twirl them into a spiral. Remind them to start making the center first. The kids are excited to see that it's not as hard as they think to make the spiral!

Hint! Hint! Next comes the hardest part! 

The kids (or with your help) can turn the clay spiral over and  score the coils on the back with a clay tool. Explain to them this will help keep the coils together as it dries. Just keep repeating though, if you press too hard with the tool, you will break the coils!

When the coil spiral is all set and done, you can then gently put a Popsicle stick into the clay for the kids. Then let them dry!

The next day when the lollipops were dry, I put some white glue at the base,  where the Popsicle stick entered the clay. Extra reinforcement! 

You'll be ready to paint during the next class!

When it came to painting, I had 5 paint stations set up. They could choose two colors that they wanted to paint with.

Another hint- I always remind the kids to treat the paintbrush the way you treat your hair. No banging on the table, no twisting and no whipping it around. This analogy works for the most part.

After the paint dried, I had two fifth graders help me put glitter on the lollipops. Again, another night  was needed for the glitter to dry.

And they're all done!

I was concerned that the lollipops would break on the way home. So they were each put in a brown, paper bag with their name on it, for the journey home. 

The lollipop came out really cute. They learned some art history. Got to paint. And had an introduction to clay coil making. Yeah! A win-win all around. You can't beat that!!

Well, what do you think? How about another Wayne Thiebaud inspired art lesson? You can find one here.

 Would these Wayne Thiebaud inspired lollipops work in your art class? Let me know! You can leave a comment below.